Prosecutors have asked a South Korean court to issue an arrest warrant for the captain of the ferry that sank on Wednesday, the Associated Press reports.

Lee Joon-seok, 68, reportedly left the ship's bridge before the vessel sank, authorities say, leaving control of the ferry in the hands of the ship's third mate — he had just one year of experience.

Survivors have said the captain escaped the ship on a lifeboat, alongside five other crew members, leaving hundreds of passengers on board to fend for themselves.

News of the arrest warrant comes as the death toll in the disaster rises to 28, with roughly 270 people — many of them high school students — still missing. The South Korean ferry is now fully submersed, further reducing the chances of rescuing those unaccounted for, CNN says. The death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Rescuers have managed to breach the hull and enter the second deck of the ferry which sunk off the coast of Jindo Island on Wednesday, and are searching for more bodies. Some of the 28 who were killed were found huddling together inside the ship.

The operation was briefly put on hold on Thursday due to rough weather conditions, and the divers had to temporarily stop the search, the South Korean Coast Guard said.

"The guide line that links the sunken ship and the rescue vessel has been cut off," the Coast Guard. "Still, the entrance into the ship is open and we plan to resume operation to enter the ship." Though the ferry has now sunk completely, it's still possible that there are survivors holding out in air pockets inside the ship. Rescuers were pumping in oxygen on Wednesday in hopes that some of it would reach anyone still alive.

Three large cranes have arrived at the scene of the accident, and are ready to salvage the boat out of the water. But the operation, which will take several months, can start only after all the relatives of the missing people still on baord the ferry permit it to go forward.

The ferry carried more than 470 people, and many of them were students from the Danwon High School in Ansan. Of the total, 179 have been rescued. Dozens were injured in the incident.

Vice Principal Found Hanged

The school's vice principal has been found hanged, NBC Newsreports. Identified as Kang Min-kyu, the vice principal was found hanging from a pine tree on the island of Jindo. He had been rescued from the ship before hundreds of his students.

"The deputy head of this school saved himself on the ship but not his students," a woman at the high school told NBC News. "No one from this school is going to the hospital or the rescue area. Why not? Why aren't you doing anything?"

There was no suicide note left at the site, the New York Post says, but South Korea's Yonhap news agency reports that the vice principal had felt guilty for being saved while hundreds of those under his care were still missing.

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